[Reader-list] Understanding history for communal harmony

[Yousuf]

Understanding medieval history for communal harmony
CJ: Jayati Chakraborty

Rulers’ history is always a history of conflict. The conflicts between Hindu and Muslim rulers in medieval period cannot be seen as Hindu-Muslim religious conflict, as these were primarily power conflicts. It was an administrative necessity.

HISTORY EDUCATION has failed to deliver communal harmony in India. This is because most of the history that we, as lay men, know is nothing but distortion. The most unfortunate aspect is that we try to understand history through religion. The entire history of the medieval era i.e. the Muslim period, which is crucial in understanding the question of Hindu Muslim unity, is basically rulers’ history. And rulers’ history is always a history of conflict.

For instance, we take the example of the battles between Shivaji and Auangazeb, Akbar and Rana Pratap, Mahmud Ghazni’s destruction of the Somnath temple, Aurangazeb’s destruction of Hindu temples etc to forment communal disharmony. But we forget that these conflicts were conflicts to acquire power. Rana Pratap’s senapati or commander-in –chief was a Muslim. Similarly, Akbar’a commander was a Rajput. It is true that Aurangazeb destroyed a number of Hindu temples but what we do not know is that many of the Hindu temples (the Kamakya temple at Guwahati) were given as Jagir. In medieval times the Parmar rulers of Gujarat destroyed many Jain temples. Before the plunder at Somnath, Mahmud of Ghazni conquered Multan and destroyed many masjids or Muslim places of worship as well.

The Muslim rulers of India had no fixed law of succession. So war of succession was a common feature during this period. Aurangazeb killed all his brothers and even imprisoned his father in order to ascend to the throne of Delhi. While he re-imposed the Jizya tax on non-Muslims, recent researches have shown that the largest number of Hindu Mansabdars existed during Aurangazeb’s reign.

If we closely analyse the history of the sultanate period, we find that kings of this period always tried to restrict Ulema intervention in administrative matters. Balban, Allauddin Khilji, Muhammad bin Tughlaq clearly refused to take any advice from the Ulema (the Islamic scholars), regarding administration. In the 1980s, when Indira Gandhi sent troops to the Golden Temple, the commander was a Sikh, just to send the message that this move was not because of disrespect for any religion. It was an administrative necessity. Similarly, the conflicts between Hindu and Muslim rulers cannot be seen as Hindu-Muslim religious conflict, as these were primarily power conflicts.

Textbooks, therefore, must stress more on the people’s history that is the composite culture that developed in the medieval period. There are numerous instances of the Sufi and Bhakti saints like Sant Kabir, Guru Nanak who tried to build communal harmony.

Amir Khusrau was a well-known poet and musician who had a deep love for the Brij language .It was he who introduced the sitar and the quawali. It may be noted here that most of the ragas in quawali have been taken from Hindusthani classical music. Dara Sikhoh was a great Sanskrit scholar who translated the Upanishad in Persian and titled it ‘The Great Mystery’. In this book, he said, if after Koran, we imagine the concept of one God, it is the Upanishad. 

The manuscript is available at the Azamgarh library. One will be shocked to find that on the top right hand corner of the manuscript is written ‘Sri Ganesh Namah’ with a picture of Lord Ganesha. And the left hand corner contains an invocation to Allah. Such bonding needs to be stressed in the textbooks.

Communal harmony is necessary for our survival. Once Mahesh Bhatt, the eminent film director asked a war veteran at Vietnam, ‘What was philosophy with which you fight war?’ He answered, ‘One philosophy, save your brother.’

This is true for Indians also. Either we all drown together or we do not. We always try to analyse others and we see other’s faults. We do not analyse ourselves. True, Kasab, the terrorists accused in the Mumbai attack, was a Pakistani but the person who opened the door was a Hindusthani. Therefore, the ideology of secularism needs to be reiterated time and again. We have to assert the secular fabric of our nation. Without this we have no future.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=155365